


What Does a Soul Weigh?

by APocketSizedAce



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: And Ganymede is more liekly to kill him than bastion is, Cheesy title I know, Continued, D.va has some issues she needs to work out, Fluff, I couldnt find a better one, In which genji starts civil war in the dining room, In which lucio decides to sneak into winstons lab, Its a much lighter fic than the title suggest, Lúcio helps her, To visit the murder machine they found in the woods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-09-25 04:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9803396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/APocketSizedAce/pseuds/APocketSizedAce
Summary: The Bastion Unit Overwatch had found made Lúcio curious. At first it's a simple desire to see a walking piece of history up close. But interacting with them makes him wonder, can a machine built for war have a soul?





	1. Chapter 1

  Lúcio was, as Hana had put it, “unhealthily interested” in the Bastion Unit. It was hard not to be, in his opinion. A team of six heroes goes on a mission and comes back with an extra party member. An old, overgrown relic of war that seemed more interested in nature than murder. The last of their kind, left deactivated in the woods for years until just coming online recently. It was a walking piece of history that he’d like to know more about.

  At the moment the Omnic was being held in Winston lab until they could figure out how much of a threat it actually was. That would determine whether they’d keep it or destroy it. In fact, Lúcio had just seen the gorilla leave, saying something about giving the scans time to finish. To his knowledge, there wasn’t anyone else in there at the moment. So the musician slipped inside the room quietly. The door had been locked, but if he could get into Vishkar he could get into Winston’s lab.

  Was it stupid to purposely seek out the Siege-Automaton? Probably. Breaking into a highly advanced facility and stealing experimental technology was stupid too, but look where that got him. The line between bravery and stupidity could get pretty blurry sometimes.

  The lights had been turned off, the room lit only by the glow of the monitors. A progress bar was shown on one of the larger ones, the surrounding smaller ones had coding flying across the screen too fast to track. Despite that speed the bar wasn’t budging, it seemed the process would have to continue overnight.

  The Bastion Unit is hard to miss, even in the dark lighting. Their massive silhouette is clearly outlined and Lúcio could see the dim glow of the single optic from the doorway. He makes his way over to the Omnic, stepping over the cables lying on the floor. As he gets closer he can see several cords plugged into the overgrown machine. One leads over to the computer but others are connected to what appears to be generators. The Brazilian recognized them as sappers, devices designed to detain an Omnic by draining a majority of their power, forcing their systems to use the rest of the energy just to continue running. It was only used on particularly dangerous Omnics, and the Siege-Automaton definitely qualified. In fact they needed several just to account for their size.

  “Hey there.” He greets quietly, but jumps back slightly in surprise when the Bastion Unit slowly tilts their head up to look at him. It seems even all these sappers still weren’t quite enough. He laughs embarrassedly and steps closer. Even though the Omnic is sitting they practically loom over him. He’s never seen a functioning Bastion in person before, and even in this broken down state Lúcio knows he’d be no match for them if they weren't having their power drained. It's scary, but he was always a bit of an adrenaline junkie.

  Yet there’s no signs of aggression from the Siege-Automaton. In fact they seem to be curious, yet wary of this stranger. It mirrors the Dj’s own feelings and that’s the odd thing. Lúcio had expected more of a drone than an Omnic, but there’s clearly sentience to some degree here. The Shambali believed Omnics had souls, but would they include Bastion Units in that definition? He makes a note to seek out Zenyatta later to ask his thoughts on the matter.

  He’s in the midst of this line of thinking when something starts screeching. Looking up Lúcio noticed the yellow song bird perched atop the Siege-Automaton’s head. It’s puffed up its feathers and is crouching low, tapping its feet on the grass covered metal. It’s clearly an aggressive display, the small bird looking ready to launch at him if he comes any closer. The Dj puts his hands up and takes a step back. It’s irony at its finest. A little ball of feathers has more intent to kill him than the war machine it’s perched on.

  The Bastion Unit chirps at it, the sound drawn out a little longer than it should have been due to low power. Like the Omnic equivalent of slurring your words when exhausted. The one hand reaches up slowly to grab the bird and Lúcio’s afraid the Omnic is going to crush the fragile creature. But instead they move the bird onto their shoulder, give it a parting pat on the head after they let go of it. The arm goes limp and drops into their lap, the movement seeming to tire them out. The bird calms down, but eyes him warily. It seems to be daring him to try something, he wouldn’t be surprised if it pulled out a tiny knife to match the threat.

  Keeping an eye on the small animal the Brazilian approaches again. “Hey there,” He says, voice soft. They barely incline their head in response. “You look pretty tired. Long day?” There’s little response besides a soft whirr that almost sounds like a yawn. Lúcio sits down beside the Siege-Automaton, keeping a small distance between the two of them out of respect and that beady eyed bird on the other side.

  There’s something painted across the side of the Omnic’s chest that he has to squint at to read in the dim lighting. “ _E54_ huh? That your serial number or something?” He asks. “Well if you’re really the _last_ Bastion Unit you don’t really need one anymore. You mind if I just call you Bastion?” There’s the smallest beep from the other which he’s going to assume means they like the nickname.

  Lúcio starts scrolling through his music library, it's too quiet in here. “So what kind of music do you like Bastion?” He asks, talking for the sake of talking. The Omnic isn’t really much of a conversationalist. A confused trill leaves the other. Right, the middle of the woods probably didn’t get too many radio stations to listen to. “Here, try this on for size.” He tells them, selecting a playlist. This particular style of music is a mix between classical and techno music. It’s pretty laid back and seems like Bastion’s style.

  His hunch is proven right when the Omnic sways gently and beeps along with the beat. Even though they don’t have the most expressive face, Lúcio thinks they look pleasantly surprised. It’s the kind of happiness of discovering new things and it makes him smile.

  Yeah, he’s pretty sure Bastion’s much more than a drone. Music is the window to the soul after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> D.va has trouble differing between friend and foe when it comes to Omnic soldiers. Her home land lives in fear of the massive Omnic that appears every few years to threaten their shores, and that paranoia has some lasting side effects

  Lúcio looked around him. A meeting had been called by Winston and the gorilla stood at the head of the table. The dining room had been made into a makeshift boardroom for the occasion, being one of the only places on base with enough chairs for everyone. It was no mystery what the topic of discussion was. Everyone had been on edge since they’d brought the Bastion Unit in and were eager to finally hear the verdict.

  Winston cleared his throat to silence the few whispered conversations. “The scans finished just over an hour ago,” He said. “and the Bastion’s coding is so deteriorated it’s a miracle it’s functioning. As long as nobody starts firing guns off around it we shouldn’t have a problem.” Lúcio could feel the tension melt away as everyone seemed to finally breathe.

  It was Mei who spoke up first. “Can I have it?” She asked. A sheepish smile spread across her face when she noticed all the shocked stares from around the table. “I could use a research assistant. If it can follow basic instructions and record data it would help me a whole lot,” She explains. “and unless we’re making it an Overwatch member we aren’t exactly using it for anything.” Someone mutters _target practice_ under their breath.

  Genji appeared thoughtful, a hand resting on his chin. “Well, they aren’t exactly duty ready at the moment. Some repairs and training would have to happen first before we send them out in the field.” He’s almost talking to himself, seemingly unaware of the thick silence that’s descended over the crowd. The tension from before is back in full force and Lúcio can feel it weighing down on his shoulders.

  Chaos erupts, everyone is shouting to try and make their voice heard. He can hear Reinhardt’s voice full of thundering fury, Mercy’s faint screech as she fights to make her point over the others, and D.va’s impressively loud ranting. Symmetra seems to be trying to escape the noise by curling in on herself, calm mask cracking at the seams. It’s hard to make out any one person’s words and Winston looks on the verge of losing his temper with the lot of them.

Nobody notices when he slips out of his seat and into the hall.

* * *

 

  He can still hear the chaos as he walks towards his destination. It grates on his ears and he wishes he’d stuck his headphones around his neck. He usually wore them everywhere, but he hadn’t wanted to appear rude by wearing them during the meeting. Lúcio considers making a detour to his room to get them, but he’s nearly at the lab anyway. It’s just as easy to get in as it was the last time, Winston needs to upgrade his security, he thinks with a smile.

  There’s better lighting this time, which greatly reduces the Dj’s risk of tripping on the wires running across the floor. Bastion is exactly where they were when he left, in fact they’re still hooked up to the sappers. He guesses Winston just forgot to unplug them after they were declared safe. Well, he hopes that’s the case because something that drains energy like that _has_ to be painful.

  “Hey buddy,” He greets with a wave of his hand. “How you holding up?” He flops down to the ground so he can sit across from them. They twitch the fingers of one hand, the closest they can manage to a wave at the moment. The two of them flinch back when a loud roar sounds from down the hallway, then the noise stops. Nothing deescalates a situation like the threat of an angry gorilla tossing you around the room.

  Lúcio notes that he can hear the Omnic’s fans whirring, quite loudly actually. It makes sense, lying dead in a forest probably didn’t do their hardware many favours. In fact, they’re probably why the room is so warm right now. He extends his hand to touch theirs and is met with scorching heat. Quickly he draws back, nursing the scalds on his fingertips. “That _can’t_ be healthy,” He said. “Hold tight, I’ll be right back.” He hops to his feet and goes to find the kitchen.

* * *

 

  The argument is still going on, quieter though this time. Lúcio roots around in the cupboards before he finds a large dish towel. He starts pulling the trays of ice cubes out of the freezer, half listening to his teammates in the other room. He can hear Zarya ranting and Genji trying to be heard over her. He’s wrapping up the makeshift ice pack when someone else escapes from the meeting.

  D.va is sneaking away from the doorway when she catches sight of him. “Lúcio what’re you doing?” She asks, walking over to the Dj. She pokes at the oversized ice pack in his hands. “Are you sick?” Part of her wants to touch his forehead to check his temperature; she doesn’t, because that’d be awkward.

  “It’s not for me,” He responds. “Come on, I’ll show you.” He starts to walk back to the lab, gesturing for her to follow with a sweep of his arm. The petite girl follows, curious as to why her friend emptied nearly 3 whole trays of ice cubes into a towel. Once they reach their destination she’s even more confused. What are they doing in the lab? Nonetheless she follows the man inside and freezes in the doorway.

  “What the _fuck_.” She whispers. That’s the Bastion Unit. Why the actual fuck are they in here with that? Lúcio pulls her closer to the Omnic and she’s too shocked to resist. Distantly she laments leaving her pistol in her MEKA, though that thought is immediately followed by the knowledge the small handgun would have about as much impact to the Bastion as a butterfly landing on your nose.

  The shorter man smiles at her and let’s go of her hand. “Don’t worry, Bastion’s super chill,” He tells her. “Plus they’re hooked up to all these sappers so they aren’t going anywhere.” He gets closer to the Omnic and sets the icepack atop their head. They let out a soft whirr that’s nearly a sigh, the whine of their fans winding down slightly.

  Slowly Hana gets closer, inching her way over like a young child approaching a scary animal at a petting zoo. The machine before her is powerless at the moment, quite literally actually. However part of her says this is a trap, that it’s just lulling her into a false sense of security. But she presses on, coming to stand in front of this relic. She stares into the dim blue optic, just barely able to see her reflection in the glass. “Hi...” Is all she can think to say. Her fingers itch for her MEKA’s controls or the pink handgun she wields outside of it. She clenches her fist to resist the motion.

  A small beep is the response she gets and it surprises her. She’d expected a much harsher voice, with a deep electronic buzz. But the Bastion Unit spoke in soft, cheery sounds, the ones you’d expect out of a cute little droid like Snowball. The flowers and grass hide the sharp and blocky edges too. She laughs, it’s a nervous, confused sound that she’s not really sure where it comes from. “This is crazy.” She mutters to herself as she runs a hand through her bangs.

  Lúcio takes a seat next to the Omnic, completely unconcerned that he’s within point blank range of that gun attached to their arm. He pats the ground beside him, giving her that stupid angelic smile that no one can say no to. D.va sits down with a huff, caught between ignoring the Bastion and watching it like a hawk. “I can’t believe you brought it an ice pack.” She says but the Dj just laughs light-heartedly. Gentle music starts to play and Hana finds it hard to hold onto her frustration. The Omnic tries to hum along but they’re a bit off the tempo.

  “They were overheating.” He responds and leans against the massive machine casually. Bastion beeps curiously but doesn’t push him away. Instead they lean into him slightly, clearly wanting the contact but trying to avoid crushing him with their weight. They whirr contentedly, the sound resembling a cat’s purr. Could Omnics be touched starved? She supposed it was possible. “Come on Hana, they don’t bite. Well, their bird may.” Bird? After having it pointed out to her she notices the yellow puff of feathers glaring at her from atop a metal shoulder. The thing looks downright murderous.

  Carefully she inches around to the other side of the Omnic, keeping a careful eye on both them and their pet. She settled down next to them, a little closer than before. Lúcio smiles encouragingly and D.va wonders if it's for her or for Bastion. Slowly she lays her hand on top of theirs, the metal warm under her touch. The hulking machine chirps happily at her and she feels the smallest of smiles tug on her lips. She breathes in deeply and does her best to separate this from the war back home.

  This is a _potential_ teammate. Not an enemy on the battle field for her to mow down in her MEKA. This is just a tired, broken down and glitchy Omnic, they’re harmless. As long as she doesn’t hurt them they won’t hurt her. This is an Omnic that likes music and physical affection, not a mindless war machine.

  The mantra doesn’t alleviate her anxiety, but Hana feels like she can breathe a bit easier now. She awkwardly pats the hand under hers. It may take awhile for her brain to separate friend from foe when it comes to Bastion, but she figures they deserve a chance so she’ll give them one. All living things have a right to second chances.


End file.
